


Old Words Carry New Meanings

by JellyDishes



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen, Justice via the Awakenings settings rather than in Anders, Warden Bethany Hawke, Warden commander Bethany Hawke, kinda angsty kinda relationship exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26473849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyDishes/pseuds/JellyDishes
Summary: Warden commander Bethany Hawke finds herself unable to sleep one evening, but it is the other things she finds while in conversation with the spirit of Justice that have meaning.
Relationships: Bethany Hawke & Justice





	Old Words Carry New Meanings

Beathany’s breath streamed past her as she paced the battlements of Vigil’s Keep. She strode back in forth with quick, almost stomping footsteps, as if she could grind down the source of her distress beneath her heavy winter boots, but that was plainly not the case. Every circuit of the same tower brought a grimmer and more dark expression to her face, and she clenched her fists that much tighter at her sides. “I want to be alone,” she snapped in the direction of the stairs leading up to the top of the wall.

“This world is so empty,” intoned the spirit of Justice, startling her, “it is no surprise that true solitude can be achieved.”

Bethany hadn’t stopped walking, but her steps had slowed as she passed where the spirit stood. He wasn’t wearing heavy layers against the cold the way Bethany was, but why would he? “Justice,” she said, trying to inject at least a touch of patience into her tone, “I slept badly, and have for… It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about philosophy right now, or at all.”

He, or perhaps they, looked back at her. Hadn’t moved an inch. “What do you wish to say about your dream then, commander?”

Bethany’s frown dug into her cheeks at the word ‘commander,’ but she said instead, “It wasn’t a dream. You know that. You know what I saw.”

“The Fade,” he said at once. She could feel the banked coals of his eyes grow brighter beneath the fires of his interest, and glowered between her fisted hands and down at the streets of Amaranthine. “My home. You saw what I seek.”

Bethany let out a huff of a laugh that obscured her face for a moment with a cloud of vapor, save for the pinprick glint of her golden-brown eyes. “Non mages call it nightmares. That’s what I used to tell my twin they were, when we were children. But it wasn’t. Every night my spirit walks your home, but believe me when I say that it has never been a comforting place to me. Last night desire demons came to me and whispered about what I have lost. Years, freedom… people. The horrifying part was that I considered it.” She finally looked away from the snow that had melted in puddles where she’d rested her fists atop the stonework, and at the spirit of Justice. “What do you make of that?” She laughed quietly. “Someone willing to sacrifice everything for what has already been well and truly lost?”

The spirit shifted where they stood for a moment before moving to stand beside her. “The other wardens insist that justice does not always end happily, commander. What would be just for you…” They paused briefly, perhaps in thought, “may be colored by your perceptions the way mortals shift the world of the Fade about them.”

“Are you saying that you are questioning my morals, Justice.”

“No, commander,” they said again, just before placing their hands in the widening pools of melting snow beside Bethany’s. “I question why you are.”

Bethany looked down at her hands and theirs, and couldn’t help but laugh again, low and raspy and halting where it caught in her throat. “You haven’t known me for very long yet, Justice. You’ll get used to it.”


End file.
